From South Side To Olympic Gold

Davis makes Winter Olympic history with 1st-place finish

TURIN, Italy — Most of those saluting Shani Davis with a standing ovation Saturday night wouldn't know the White Sox from the Cubs.

But they knew what they had just witnessed from the 23-year-old American wearing the cap of his favorite World Series champions, and they had no trouble identifying him as an Olympic champion.

Davis grew up on the South Side, took up speedskating at 6 despite skepticism that black kids aren't speedskaters, battled the U.S. skating establishment with his mother Cherie over a litany of issues and was the subject of widespread criticism last week for skipping a team race.

But he got the last word in the 1,000 meters.

The world record-holder, Davis became the first black athlete to win an individual gold medal in Winter Olympics history by finishing in 1 minute 8.89 seconds. American Joey Cheek took the silver in 1:09.16, and Erben Wennemars of the Netherlands won the bronze.

"I've always joked around with my friends ... `I want to win that 1,000 meters someday,'" Davis said. "Just jokingly. I would've never known when I was 12 years old that when I'm 23, I would win an Olympic gold medal.

"It's just a great feeling, and it shows that even though the road is rough, you have to work hard and [weather] the storm. You have to ride it out because eventually, if you work hard enough, you'll get your chance to try to do something great."

Two other Americans finished in the top 10: Chad Hedrick in sixth and Casey FitzRandolph in ninth.

Hedrick, who had been trying to match Eric Heiden's five gold medals, had sparked the latest controversy involving Davis.

Last week Davis opted out of the team-pursuit race. That lessened the U.S. team's--and Hedrick's--chance of winning what appeared to be a sure medal. In fact, the U.S. failed to medal.

Now Davis is tied with Hedrick, a 28-year-old Texan who won the 5,000 meters, at one gold apiece.

So tense was the atmosphere around the U.S. team that most skaters had refused to talk about Davis all week, while Davis mostly avoided the media and his teammates.

Speedskating became a part of the lives of Davis and his mother when her boss, Fred Benjamin, a Chicago attorney and then president of the Illinois Speedskating Association, suggested the sport.

Davis, who had already taken to roller skating, immediately stood out in speedskating, and the family moved from Hyde Park to Evanston to be closer to the rink where he trained.

By 2002 Davis had made the short-track Olympic team. But he was an alternate and did not compete in Salt Lake City, and the Davises' feud with the U.S. Speedskating Federation was off and running over issues including funding, logo use and perceived racism.

By the time Davis and his mother reached Turin, no sign of a thaw was evident. But Saturday night, Davis showed the world his amazing gift and seemed to let his guard down in the process.

"I wanted to win really badly because regardless of all the he-says-she-says and all the talk, I've been doing it since I was 6," he said. "And what's more rewarding than to go out there and fulfill one of your childhood dreams?"

Davis called his victory a "breakthrough" for African-Americans because it might inspire more black children to try the sport.

"That's the most important thing," he said. "The kids are the future. Kids should be able to go out there. I think skating's awesome."

He even praised Hedrick, saying: "I have a lot of respect for Chad. For someone to come over and do what he's done to the sport of skating, it's unfathomable. ...

"I want to see Chad do well. We're competitive. But it's not about being competitive with Chad right now. It's just going out there and doing the best that you can as an individual and being able to accomplish the dream that you set."

Asked after the race if the team was happy for Davis, Hedrick replied: "I don't know. I'm happy for Joey. ... The U.S. skated good. Four people in the top 10 is pretty impressive. Shani skated fast today. That's about all I have to say about that."

After saying last week that he had gotten where he was without his teammates' help, Davis took the high road Saturday night.

"It's going to happen that some people bump heads because we're all from the same country and fighting for the same things," he said. "So it's kind of normal to have hard feelings. But he said I skated fast. That's nice."

Davis expounded on tougher issues. Asked if he was bothered by Hedrick implicitly questioning his patriotism after Davis bypassed the team pursuit, he responded:

"Does that mean the ones who go fight are more patriotic? People make choices. Who's to say who's more patriotic? Just because I don't wear a lot of USA Speedskating stuff doesn't mean I don't love my country."

Davis also opened up about his experiences with racism.

"On my Web site there are a lot of derogatory remarks in the comments, wishing me to break my leg and fall down, using the `n' word, a lot of ignorance out there. Before all this Olympic stuff, I've never had any problems.

"I try not to think that some of the things that happen to me are because I'm black. A lot of things happen to a lot of people."

On this night, an Olympic gold medal happened because of him. And for the first time in a long while, Davis said what he wanted to say by his performance.

"You can say about Shani what you want to say," said bronze medalist Wennemars. "But he's the best sportsman and he's an Olympic champion. So he's right."